"Moses: In the Footsteps of the Reluctant Prophet" Sermon Series • October 22 - November 26

Through our sermon messages and original video clips filmed on location in Egypt – including the pyramids, Luxor, the Nile River Delta and the Sinai wilderness – we’ll experience the places where the story of Moses and the Exodus took place. Join us each Sunday October 22 through November 26 as we travel in the footsteps of Moses and explore how his remarkable story continues to speak to our lives today.

October 22: A Fearful Pharaoh // Exodus 1:8-11, 15-17 and 2:1-6

God is not mentioned anywhere in this entire story in Exodus 2, yet he was still at work. God worked through heroic midwives, through Moses’ courageous mother, and through a compassionate princess who listened to her heart and not her head. God works in ordinary ways, through seemingly ordinary people who pay attention, who listen for his nudges on their hearts, who don’t give into their fears but seek to do the right thing regardless of the cost.

Moses encounters God in the burning bush. Three things God mentions to Moses about what has touched him: God has seen the oppression of slaves in Egypt; he has heard their cries of injustice; and he has known their pain. I think he expects us to do the same on his behalf. I believe God calls all of us to do something. God sees, hears and knows the suffering of others, or their lostness, or their pain and he says to us regularly, if we’re listening, “Get going! I’m sending you!”

Jesus and the earliest Christians saw in the story of the Exodus a picture of what God was doing for the whole human race. It’s not just that people 3,300 years ago were slaves in Egypt. We’re all slaves in one way or another. We’re slaves to anger, resentment or hate, or like Pharaoh, to selfishness and narcissism. We’re slaves to fear, or to hopelessness or despair. We’re slaves to guilt, shame, addiction and sin. Ultimately we’re slaves to death. As God intervened in history to save the Israelites from bondage, so, we believe, God intervened in history once more to save and redeem the human race, to save us from our lostness, brokenness, fears, to save us from guilt, sin and death.

Practically speaking, rules are often the centerpiece of religious life. Many people think the Ten Commandments are rules that make a relationship with God possible. If you follow the rules, God will be happy. If you don’t, he won’t. But what if a relationship with God doesn’t depend on our obedience? When it comes to your relationship with God, what is the role of rules?

At some point in our lives, God calls us to be leaders. Maybe you are leading in the home, on the job, in a ministry or a volunteer activity. Whatever you are called to lead it’s not easy. So what do you do when the work seems to be overwhelming, you are being criticized for your decisions, or you become paralyzed by fear and can’t move forward? This week we will discover answers to those questions from Moses' lessons in the wilderness.

The Israelites were camped out in the plains of Moab before they went into the Promised Land. It is here that Moses addressed the people and his words are what we know as the book of Deuteronomy. Moses would then climb Mt. Nebo where he would die. Join us this Sunday as we conclude our series of messages about “The Reluctant Prophet” by exploring the three lessons we learn regarding our own faith journey from Moses’ farewell discourse.